Kristina & Kevin - 7.19.2008

[StarCoveter]

We're married! On our honeymoon, which was at a resort in Florida where my mom has a timeshare, we went on a tour. They were trying to sell us a timeshare, and I'll admit it did sound appealing, but we refused because we're trying to be smart about money. Another monthly payment is NOT what we need right now. We were really on the tour because they gave us $75 cash just for doing so :).

Our tour guide was very friendly and we were talking about being newlyweds and he was telling stories of his married life, as he'd gotten married 7 years ago. He said, "I think that being married just kind of propels you forward in life. Like now you can really do anything." I liked that, but didn't think much of it till we got home a few days ago.

I really thought that nothing would change, and in the aspect of Kevin and myself, it hasn't. We still love each other the same, although now it's fun to say "husband" and "wife" and giggle and have that sort of fresh perspective of now we're really going to be partners for the rest of our lives. That's nice to have.

But since we've been home, we've made some decisions. These are not totally new decisions, but it's like we have this push now to really commit to these choices we're making.

1. Kevin has decided to really search for a new job. He's a graphic designer working in a very small awards shop (right now there are 7 employees total). Half the people working there are family, the other half, excluding Kevin, attend the same church. Kevin sticks out like a sore thumb, but he mostly gets along with his coworkers. However, it's not a well-run business. His boss complains weekly about money, usually after purchasing something for himself along the lines of a motorcycle, Bowflex, or boat. Kevin has not been truly happy there for a while, so he's actively searching out a new job. Finally!

2. I have committed to non-consumerism. The time before the wedding was a free-for-all with my money. I felt like I could use the "it's for the wedding" excuse for everything! And I maxed out my credit cards (very small limits, but still) and have no emergency fund for anything as of yet. I have two small school loans, a car loan, and an account with Best Buy. I have decided to be VERY conscious of my spending habits, my use of energy/electricity/money in the home, and focus on not spending any extra money when going grocery shopping and not taking any shopping-specific trips. I have a plan to pay off all my debt (except for the huge car loan) within the next two years. I can do it! I am paid well for my profession, and now that I don't have to chuck a couple hundred dollars a month into the wedding fund, I can pay off my debt. And besides that, who needs to go out and buy new stuff, when you can find equally good stuff at the thrift stores, craigslist, and freecycle??? Not to mention yard sales!

3. Kevin and I are ready to try for a baby. I have been ready for years. Kevin has been ready for a while, but it was always a question of when. I assumed it'd be in a couple of years. But since we've been home, we've really talked about it. I've tried to spout hundreds of ways our lives will change with a child, but Kevin has stood sure that he's ready. And that makes me feel so good. He's going to be a great father! I'm very excited! In fact, today I'm going to the library to get a lot of books on the subject, and I'm making a doctor's appointment before school starts to get all the information I need on how to do this right. As a conscious vegetarian, I feel like I'm pretty healthy to begin with, but I've never had this need for total awareness. So this is a whole new chapter of our lives. We've been together 6.5 years now, so we have no need to really enjoy some "us" time like a lot of married couples do. We've had that for a while now - time for the next step!

So you see, it really does seem like our marriage has propelled us forward. My best friend said that now that I have that commitment from him (I always wondered when it was going to happen, even though I knew we were going to always be together) and I can look ahead instead of focusing on what's holding us back. That's true! Get ready, life - here we come! :)

[KMS]

I absolutely loved reading your post - full of hope, ambition, and love! It's great that you have your eyes on the future and are making all kinds of plans. It seems like your lives are going to change for the better, for sure. Kevin will be happier when he gets a different job, you will feel so much control over your spending habits and whittle away at your debt, and you can work to create a wonderful life together to bring a baby into.

Yay!

[StarCoveter]

So yesterday I went to Walmart and printed up pictures to stick into the Thank You Cards. I spent $40!!! So much for non-consumerism, huh? Just joking - this was something that we planned on doing since the beginning, and I think people will really appreciate the picture. Plus I printed some 5x7s for the parents. :) I'm mailing out the cards today! Done!

Here's the shot we chose for the thank-you card insert:
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk300/StarCoveter/D2X_4641.jpg

[Brad's Bride in 08]

AWW!! That's such a gorgeous picture! I'm sure everyone will LOVE it!

[KMS]

Dana is so right! It's gorgeous. Wow!! :cloppy: (<---he seems like an excited cow!)

[Brad's Bride in 08]

Wow!! :cloppy: (<---he seems like an excited cow!)


LOL!!!! THATS FUNNY!

[StarCoveter]

Isn't my husband so handsome??? :soppy:

[KMS]

Isn't my husband so handsome??? :soppy:

Hey, don't forget about the pretty lady right next to the handsome man!

You two make a beautiful couple.

[tawni8806]

I loved reading your post, and I look forward to coming back and reading more. You make me want to start one, but I still have a week or so until I can say that Im a married woman.

I'm sure thats exciting knowing that it's a good time to start a family. You have to keep us updated on the progress for that. Did you schedule an appt?

Your picture is beautiful. Im happy for you both.

[StarCoveter]

For a wedding gift from Kevin's coworkers, we got $175 of Lowe's gift cards. We decided to redo the bedroom with it. Right now our entire house is beige: beige walls, beige carpet, beige linoleum in the bathrooms and kitchen/dining rooms. Even the outside of the house is a boring yellow.

Yesterday we were finalizing color decisions and in the process decided that, what the heck, we were going to try to take off the popcorn ceiling. So we got a scraper and a water bottle and went to town on the master bathroom ceiling (which really isn't that big - smaller than the other bathroom, which is weird). It was surprisingly easy, but still time consuming and a workout for the arms. And fun! For some reason, it was really satisfying scraping off all the white stuff and seeing the drywall underneath.

We went to Lowe's to get the paint, painting supplies, and drywall supplies. When we get done scraping off the popcorn stuff, we'll need to do little patches and sanding, and then paint the entire ceiling with an oil-based primer, and then a latex flat white over top. I'm so excited! I think it'll be a lot more work than we're anticipating - everything always is, but I also think it'll be a really fun project. And I know flat ceilings may not add that much value to the home, but it'll help in the aesthetics, which in the long run will help us sell when the time comes.

We decided on a light gray-blue for the bedroom, with dark brown for the furniture and shelving, an off-white for the windowsills, doors, and trim, and ceiling. The bathroom and the closet will be a light gray with the off-white (oyster) trim, etc. His bathroom (he uses the master bathroom most of the time, and I use the other) will have the dark brown vanity (I'll have to paint it).

I think it'll look great... I need to take some before pictures! We spent our Lowe's gift cards, and an extra $100 (for the ceiling stuff)... didn't anticipate spending that money, but I don't think it's a frivolous purchase. It's for our house, which is an investment, so it's fine! :) I wonder how long it'll take us to complete this project...

[StarCoveter]

Ok, so I made an appointment at an OBGYN to talk about pregnancy, getting pregnant, etc. I've only been to this doctor once and it was a couple years ago, but I really liked her and she went the extra mile to get some information for me about a problem I was having, and called me afterwards to give me that information. The clinic is small, with only 3 woman doctors. They make sure that each mom is seen by each doctor at least once so that when labor begins, I'll know the person delivering my baby! I think that's really neat.

Only, my appointment isn't until October 7th :(... 2 months! I guess that's alright - it'll give me and Kevin a couple more months of learning all we can on our own, and to make a list of any/all questions we'll have.

And they deliver at the hospital closest to my house - about 20 minutes, and 30 minutes from my work. The hospital sounds nice, but I'm going to set up a tour for me and Kevin to really see what they offer.

I'm so excited!

[KMS]

Yay! The ball is rolling now! That clinic sounds so awesome. I hope that I can find a small personalized place like that when we're ready to start TTC.

[StarCoveter]

I made an appointment for this Sunday at 2:30 to tour the maternity center at that hospital. When the lady on the phone asked when I was due, I realized I may be speeding things up. Kevin pointed out that I did the same thing with a lot of the wedding vendors... BUT, in my eyes, once I'm actually pregnant, I'll have only 9 months to get everything done, or less. There's no pushing back the clock to give me more time. And how awesome would it be if I love this hospital? That would be something not to worry about.

I'm concerned though because I don't know how supportive they are of natural births. I haven't heard one way or the other, but that is something I will definitely ask about on Sunday. I don't know that I can actually give birth without medications, but I do plan on trying. Even if I need medications, I am going to try to use as little as possible. I've got this awesome book I'm reading from the library called Hey! Who's Having This Baby Anyway? It's giving me a lot of really good points to consider about giving birth, that I'd never even thought of. I'm really excited to keep reading/learning!

In other news, Kevin made a contact with someone from the Art Institute of Charlotte. Dont' know where it'll go, but hey! It's a contact and could further him in his career. Also has a couple of leads for some custom drums (he builds hand drums like djembes, ashikos, and even native american pow-wow drums) so that's awesome! And I've begun to email back and forth with a couple of different women from Craigslist who were looking for friends. I'm a bit of a homebody, and I have only a couple friends in this area, so I'm trying to branch out and meet new people. And I didn't know this when I first started emailing them, but they're both vegetarian!

So it really does seem like this whole marriage thing IS propelling us forward: Kevin's networking, his business is slowing picking up, I'm meeting people, we're TTC, redecorating the house, learning about Art Therapy... it's so much, and so exciting!!!

[StarCoveter]

Well, yesterday I had a meeting at school/work to figure out the schedule for all the specials teachers (art, music, p.e., spanish, computer). If you don't work in a school and/or don't have to deal with creating a schedule like htis, consider yourselves lucky! It's a lot of work, and almost always someone isn't happy with when they have to go to music, or spanish, or how early their specials are, or blah blah blah.

We are at around 675 students at my school. That means we have 33 classes grades K-5. School starts in two weeks, and we STILL aren't sure how many days the specials team is going to be at my school. Last year and the year before, we were there 4 days a week, and at another school 1 day a week. This is because we didn't have enough classes to fill up a 5-day schedule, and the other school had too many classes to squeeze into their 5-day schedule. It SUCKS to have to travel to another school. I have to go to each classroom, lugging art supplies, and trust me, the dedication that I feel towards that "extra" school is lacking. I don't mean to be, but I just hate traveling. I'd rather be at my home school full time.

So we still don't know. My principal is begging for us to be full time, but the county higher-ups are the ones who decide. And they're not in the classroom, so they have no idea what it's like.

If I have to teach 33 classes in 4 days, that means that I will begin teaching at 7:40, end at 2:00, with only a 30 minute lunch break EVERY DAY. That's 8 classes a day (with the exception of one day having only 7)! My effectiveness as a teacher will be challenged, and I will pull my hair out. I need those few breaks in the day to clean up after the kids, organize their projects, PLAN, change out the displays throughout the school, etc. Without any built in planning times, when am I supposed to do that? Add to all that my yearly volunteering with the drama club, and being on site-based. Urg. With that kind of schedule, I'll be stressed, and getting or being pregnant will be more difficult.

But thankfully, no matter how it turns out, I'M NOT PLANNING A WEDDING!!! :) So maybe I won't be stressed, no matter what! :)

Ooh... I'm going to school next week to get an early start on the year... I'll take pictures of my classroom for you all!

[NOTKT]

This is the beginning of a great life for you all! That's really cool you are a teacher, I definitely think it's one of the hardest, thankless jobs. Good luck TTC!

[StarCoveter]

Still don't know if I'm on a 4-day or 5-day schedule yet, keep your fingers crossed for me!

Kevin and I have decided to wait to try for a baby. I'm really sad about it too, because I was really excited to try and I was doing so much research about it. We even went to the hospital on a tour of the maternity center on Sunday (which was good - they are more supportive of natural birthing than I thought!). But later on Sunday, we went to visit some friends that have a 3-month old baby. She was soooo cute! During our visit, J was talking about having to back to work (she's an art teacher, too) and how she was dreading taking A to the daycare. They are taking her to one of the best daycares, and they are paying $200/week. That just totally hit us in the face. Yes, we were thinking about doctor's bills, baby gear, clothing, food, etc...but we hadn't even thought of childcare, which is a very real cost for us, as I would HAVE to go back to work. I wouldn't be able to take a long period of time off to stay home with baby, although that is something that I would LOVE to do. $200/week is a little high for our area, but not by much. Kevin pointed out that it's almost a second mortgage for us! :bbeek:

So, we're both bummed out by our rationality. haha... But it's for the best. One year is not that long to wait, in the long run. It'll give us time to save, pay down debt, learn more about the whole birthing process, etc... We're just going to keep doing what we're doing, I guess! Hopefully this year will go by fast, and be a successful one at that!

[KMS]

Wow! Your life is just full of changes and movement forward (even if the baby is going to have to wait a little longer). It's very exciting that you're researching birthing methods and all of that. When we get closer to a time when we would like to start TTC I want to look into all of the info that is out there. One of my friends got married in November and is expecting in September. They'll be having their first baby before their first wedding anniversary! They'll be paying about $200 a week in childcare and are not at all prepared for that kind of investment. They just didn't expect that. Too late now though! Good luck with your waiting. It will give you just that much more time to adaquately prepare. I hope it doesn't drive you crazy though! :D

It's wonderful that you're reaching out to make new friends. Having just moved into Houston about 6 months ago, we're still trying to do that. It's so crazy that both of the people that you are emailing from Craigslist are vegetarian. One of the best friends I've met in Houston is vegetarian and since I've become vegetarian 4 of my close friends have. It's another thing to have in common that can bond people with the same beliefs.

Ooooh good luck with all of that work schedule mess. That doesn't sound fun, at all!

[mindi_lynn]

Things sure are changing for you...that is awesome! Ben (DH) has a cousin that is also a teacher and when they got pregnant it ended up being nice for her because she was due right at the end of the school year so she had all summer off with the baby. Hopefully something like that will happen for you because it will give you a little more time than the regular maternity time off. Good luck with everything!

[70707Bride]

I love that pic that you posted in here, and I love your journal so far! I'm excited for another OW baby! I want one too, but I need to find a full-time job first, and I'm going to FL at the end of May/early June so the earliest won't be until I come back.

[StarCoveter]

Ok, I'm posting an uber-quick entry, since it's been a few days. I've been up for an hour because work has started. I hate waking up this early! My body groans and moans and I just generally would prefer sleeping in really late so that I could stay up really late.

But school has begun, or rather, the workdays have. I have so incredibly much to do that every time I cross something off my to-do list, I'm reminded of two other things that need to get done! What a stressful way to try to prepare for school starting! And I know that today I have a lot of staff meetings to attend, one of which involves us all watching outdated, cheesy scenario videos and signing off that we know what to do if an intruder with a gun starts roaming our school campus. My classroom is *almost* set up. I will take pictures when it is finished, and post here. And lucky me! I am going to be full-time at my school! Yay!!!! :D I'm excited to see the little kiddies come Monday!

[TeacherSonja]

First of all, congratualtions on your wedding! (I'm new here so I didn't get to congratulate you) I'm glad everything is going smoothly and that you get to stay at your school full-time. I am also a teacher, so I know the stress and tension that is felt at the begining of the school year.

Wish you all the best! Can't wait to see pictures of your classroom!

[KMS]

I've been noticing your absence from the boards! I'm sorry you're so busy. The summer passed by way too quickly didn't it? I can't wait to see your room all set up!

[StarCoveter]

I've been noticing your absence from the boards! I'm sorry you're so busy. The summer passed by way too quickly didn't it? I can't wait to see your room all set up!

I know! I've been spending so many hours at the school this week, trying to get everything done! I have two more days. Tomorrow we have 3 hours of meetings, and then Friday I have a workshop till 11, and then the open house begins at 3... so not many more hours in my classroom unless I work another late night at school tomorrow (something tells me that's what's going to happen!).

I've missed my OW ladies... I'll have to try to catch up this weekend with everyone's posts... I won't even know where to begin!!!

[StarCoveter]

Ok, so school is starting tomorrow... I'm nervous! I never can picture myself after a summer standing in front of all the little faces and being the teacher! We had our open house on Friday and I got so many hugs! I told a lot of them about my new name. Little first graders give me a look like, "HUH???" And the older ones think it's sweet. A few of them already have said they like "Deutsch" better than "Brown". (me too)

Anyway, as promised, a picture, but I forgot to take whole classroom shots... and my carpet in the room is dirty (the custodians have since vacuumed and swept), so ignore all the dirt and dust!

Oh, and I don't know why, but when I post pictures here, sometimes they look kind of blurry... and in this case, it makes me look cross-eyed!

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk300/StarCoveter/Classroom/WelcometoArtPowerPoint046.jpg

[LovingLife]

Aw! How exciting. Another new year....:D

[TeacherSonja]

Your classroom looks great! Each begining of the school year feels like I am starting something new and like I have never taught before. But a couple of weeks and we'll get used to it :)

Good luck tomorrow!

[KMS]

Cute classroom! Good luck tomorrow!

[uptowngirl]

Awww, it is cute that you went with Mrs Brown. :) I hope you had an awesome first day back!

[StarCoveter]

Day 1 down, 179 to go! It's funny... I have quite a few friends on Facebook that are teachers, and they all wrote in their little "status update" section that they are exhausted after the first day! Myself included.

I'm going to bed early tonight. I have a headache and my feet hurt! Yay for day one! :) But it went well. I made a powerpoint to show all the kids talking about rules and procedures (which I do every year, but this is the first year with the powerpoint) and they enjoyed it. Much better than just staring at me blab on and on. I know most of the kids from last year, but there are quite a few new to my school, so there's 3 or 4 new kids in each class that I don't know. It really didn't feel like a "first day" to me! It feels like summer never happened!

In other news, I've met up with a couple ladies from Craigslist to see if we can be friends. The first was a bust. I feel like we have things in common, but she talked WAY too much... I left our lunch with a headache and a dread of her drama. Too bad. :(

But I had lunch with another girl on Saturday and totally hit it off! It was so easy to talk to her and she's also vegetarian and shares a lot of the same beliefs as me. Yay! Kevin and I are going to hang out in a couple weekends with her and her husband at a local gallery crawl where they'll also have drumming (something Kevin loves to do). I'm excited!

But... I'm going to bed! I'm so tired......

[KMS]

It sounds like you are off to a good start for this first year. Minus the headache and achy feet!! That's so great that you've found a possible new friend and some people to do a fun double date with.

[StarCoveter]

2nd day of school:

The day was going pretty well. I was feeling lethargic, and lo and behold, after lunch I start my period. Ugh.

And then, the last 40 minutes of the school day, we have a tornado drill because we were under a tornado watch. So, on the second day of school, we make all the kids (even some new kindergarteners) crouch on the floor with their heads down and covered, for FORTY minutes. That's a LONG time. And, we even heard the bell ring signaling the end of the school day, which really freaked some of the kids out.

But we're all safe, aside from some kids' torn nerves. :grinhappy:

[Nekochanpurr]

Good luck with school!! You sound like a good teacher. *^^*

[StarCoveter]

Aww, thanks! All week, I'm pretty much going over the rules with each class as they come to me for the first time this year. There are 33 classes in our school this year (so far!), so that's 33 times of reviewing the rules. The powerpoint has really helped! With all the flying-in pictures and bouncing words, it really helps keep their attention and makes it a lot more fun. My principal came in and sat through about 5 or so minutes of it, and later I found a note from her in my teacher box, that read:

"Kristina - I loved how you went over the behavior expectations. Using your presentation ensured that you ad the attention of all of the students! :D"

That made me feel awesome. So many times I feel like what I do doesn't get noticed, since I'm not a regular classroom teacher, and because my classroom is sort of separated from all the other rooms. So this makes me feel good!

[uptowngirl]

Checking in on how school is going so far - sounds like things are good!!

That is awesome that the principal took the time to leave you the note - you should put it somewhere in your desk so you can remind yourself what a great job you did!

[StarCoveter]

I have tall cubbies next to where I have my desk, and I've got a couple of things posted there that people have written me. I think this would be good to add to the list. I also want to add this quote that I saw somewhere:

"Complaining is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but gets you nowehere."

I think I fall into the complaining rut often (especially being a teacher that is easy to keep left out of the loop), and this quote really helps me remember that it's just not worth it!

I can't believe it's been only 3 days of school! Whew!!! :grinhappy:

[KMS]

Hey, Miss teacher! Enjoying your first Saturday of the school year?!?

Love that note you got! That's so special. Keep up the good work!

[StarCoveter]

Oh man.... I forgot how tiring it is to teach all day! And my schedule's even crazier now than it was last year, but at least I'm at one school all week.

The kindergarteners started this week. They are SO cute! Today, I had Mrs. U's class for the first time, and the first in line was a little boy with a tear by his eye. She told me that he'd been crying a lot because he didn't want to leave her, and the little boy next to him said "She doesn't look spooky at all" !!! :) So cute. Who knows what they were saying beforehand about what I must be like. But I saw smiles from them all, so I think we're good. :grinhappy:

I feel like I wasted Labor Day weekend! I honestly don't know what I did on Saturday - I just completely lost it. Kevin and I had plans to go rock climbing and also putt-putting and to the batting cages, but we did none of that! We did hang out with some new friends on Friday night, and that was great! Me and the Mrs. have a LOT in common (both veggie, both like yoga, both used to play flute, both have to deal with "Brown" as a last name!). The two Mr. Browns barely spoke, but that was expected - you know how guys are! It was fun! And this Friday, we're checking out a gallery crawl with them too, so yay!

I also finished our wedding photobook from shutterfly this weekend. $160!!!!! Wowzers! But that's good for a 98-page book compared to what a photographer would have charged. I'm excited to get it in the mail! Here's the link (http://www.shutterfly.com/photobook/viewPreview.sfly?fid=24c784e59c3e60302a944dfefaeb2 16b).

Other than that, nothing got done/happened, except somehow I hurt my lower back so I spent Sunday staying still, not doing anything.

[KMS]

Oh my gosh, kindergarteners are so stinkin cute!! How adorable. That is way too crazy that that couple's last name is Brown too. What a small world!

[StarCoveter]

Or maybe there are just a lot of Browns. :snide:

[TeacherSonja]

Kindergarteners are the sweetest! Too bad I'm not teaching them this year :( because last year I had a great time with those little angels.

And yeah - teaching is tiring:)

[StarCoveter]

Oh whoops! I guess you can't check out my photobook unless you sign in:

So here's the link again.
(http://www.shutterfly.com/photobook/viewEdit.sfly?fid=20ff6bf7cc2d835ef12f12eb75ef82b5 )
Email: kristina.deutsch@hotmail.com
Password: hannah

I'm so excited to get this book! I've already gotten the email that it shipped!!!

[Goin2thechapel]

I like how that book came out....Great job laying it out!!!

[TeacherSonja]

Just one word - Great!

[StarCoveter]

Cute kindergarten conversation of the day:

Boy: I had a dog, and his name was Charlie. But he got lost.
Girl: My cousin's dad is named Charlie.
Boy: Did he run away?
Girl: No. (pause) He's a dad.

[Nekochanpurr]

OMG! i bet you had a hard time not laughing at that! So freaking cute. XD

[uptowngirl]

You did an awesome job laying out the design for that album!! I love the idea of including the vows and descriptions - I think I am going to steal that for mine! :P

[mindi_lynn]

I was just stopping by to see how things are going for you. As I was rereading some I saw that your doc appt is tomorrow. Good Luck! People keep asking us when we are planning on having kids and we are like someday. I am ready but we have a few things to get paid off before we start trying (my student loans particularly). Have a good day at school!